The ManicaPost
This, we should remind ourselves, is not exactly how Pep Guardiola (pictured) wants Manchester City to play.It is not what he dreams of when he turns off the light at night. He is a football coach so as well as the beauty and the excitement and the pounding heart, he would like some security too.
This was still brilliant, though. It was still thrilling and life-affirming and uplifting. It was still a night of sport that you never really wanted to end. City beat Barcelona at last and they deserved it, too.
Beforehand Guardiola had asked for a cup final and in a way he got one. Not one of those awful modern affairs when everybody is too scared to come out of their own half. But one of those crazy, desperate end-to-end ones we like to think we got every year in the 1970s and 1980s.
This was impossible to take your eyes off. At times it was almost impossible to comprehend. City fell behind but could have scored six or seven. Their finishing was actually quite poor. In the second half, meanwhile, Barcelona, the greatest side of the modern age, went long periods without actually having the ball.
And underpinning it all was beautiful uncertainty, a tangible insecurity caused by City’s unpredictable defending. This vulnerability was part of what made this game so compelling. City were dazzling and dangerous with the ball but, on occasion, absolutely all over the place without it.
Barcelona’s goal, for example, originated from a City free-kick deep in Spanish territory. Later, as City led 2-1, John Stones tried to play too much football in the opposition half, Luis Suarez broke to set up Andre Gomes and a shot that would have brought Barcelona an undeserved equaliser crashed back from the crossbar.
So, no, this was not all that Guardiola dreams of but it was definitely more than enough.
When Ikay Gundogen crashed home a loose ball for goal number three not long after Stones’ error, City had their victory, they had a night representative of real progress and a result that may go some way to taking their season in to the next gear.
This is what City had wanted for so long after all, a team with a puncher’s chance of beating Barcelona.
This time it felt different. Barcelona came here missing key defenders while City, driven by the embarrassment of a 4-0 defeat in the Nou Camp two weeks ago, had, in Sergio Aguero, a forward motivated by memories of a night on the bench in Catalonia and encouraged by the fact that players like Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba were not standing in his way.
Certainly Guardiola could not be accused of picking the wrong team here. The ‘false nine’ of a fortnight ago – Kevin De Bruyne – was back in a more familiar position while City’s real number nine was back in the team.
So, yes, this was a City side with a puncher’s chance and they came out swinging and never stopped. The smack on the nose they took early set them back on their heels. They were caught with far too many players up field as Barcelona broke to score and for a while their embarrassment manifested itself in further moments of uncertainty.
But the real richness in this City performance wasn’t just found in the fact they responded but that they did so by playing the aggressive, high-press football that Guardiola first patented when in charge of Tuesday night’s opponents.
Have we ever seen Barcelona rolled over in a way that would have been so starkly recognisable to them? Perhaps not.
City couldn’t find a way to do it in the Nou Camp but they did here and the manner that Sergi Roberto was terrorised in to passing straight to Aguero to enable him to set in motion a move leading to a simple equaliser was indicative of what lay ahead.
At times Barcelona could not cope with the hounding. When Sergio Busquets finally made it on to the team coach after the game, he must have turned his head expecting to see De Bruyne and David Silva sitting next to him.
This is what Guardiola’s philosophy demands, commitment to the ideal from every single player. When it works, it is quite something to watch and as this game wore on Barcelona eventually succumbed to death by their very own playbook.
As he reflected on the result, Guardiola spoke in terms of what this result may one day mean. He talked in terms of a legacy for future City footballers to embrace.
That was probably pushing it a bit. He of all people knows that one result means nothing unless it is followed by many more.
Nevertheless, this did feel a little like an ‘I was there’ kind of night as much for the manner of the football as for the result.
Since the dramatic final day of City’s 2012 Premier League winning season, the most famous scoreboard in the club’s history has arguably read Manchester City 3-2 QPR.
Now, at least, there is another contender, one that shows Barcelona as the vanquished. Guardiola didn’t get the perfect performance he had asked for but he got the perfect outcome. – DAILY MAIL SPORT.
